Apply AI

I love science fiction. I’ve enjoyed countless novels, films, short stories and video games in the genre. So when I first heard about ChatGPT, an easily accessible artificial intelligence that learns from its interactions with humans, my sci-fi alarm went off. Do you want Blade Runner? Because this is how you get Blade Runner.

From Skynet in The Terminator to the Cylons in Dwight Schrute’s favorite, Battlestar Galactica, the genre is full of stories about synthetic life turning on its creators. I can’t even count how many times I’ve read about a protagonist slowly canvassing an eerie deserted space station. What typically causes the mess? A rogue artificial intelligence, of course! I can’t help it; I’m a sucker for a good tale of man’s reach exceeding his grasp.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is a research and deployment company with the stated goal of developing artificial general intelligence, a system that can solve human-level problems. AI has already become enmeshed in our daily lives, most notably in those little pocket supercomputers we all carry. Whether you ask Siri, Alexa or prefer “Hey Google…” you’re relying on AI to answer your questions.

Another OpenAI tool, DALL-E 2, can generate realistic images from text descriptions, a neat trick. But its depictions often had an odd quirk. The humans the AI drew typically had the wrong number of fingers. While its early attempts seemed a little off, as the AI learned more from us, it improved.

OpenAI claims right on its website that AI technology comes with tremendous benefits, along with serious risk of misuse. From infringement concerns to the use of the tool to spread misinformation, there are serious concerns and risks to mitigate.

That said, some intrepid souls are already using it in their horticulture businesses. And they have good things to say. Whether it’s speeding up tedious tasks or optimizing purchasing decisions, there are plenty of ways AI can help, if used responsibly. Growers and retailers have used it to scan inventory, analyze data, even (gasp) write content for their website. Check out the story starting on pg. 22 to learn more.

So what do you think? Would you be open to using AI to supplement your workforce? Will AI systems like ChatGPT revolutionize how you run your business? Or will it usher in an age of robot overlords? Do androids dream of electric sheep? Does this unit have a soul? If you have an idea how it all will play out (or at least a good book recommendation, preferably one with a spaceship on the cover), send me an email.